CONTENTS

March 22 2012 – vol 207 no 12

“I’m more of a fan of having the rally on Friday/Saturday, the party on Saturday then go home Sunday” EIGHT-TIME WORLD RALLY CHAMPION SEBASTIEN LOEB ISN’T KEEN ON WRC EVENTS BEING ANY LONGER

REPORTS

Up-to-the-minute news and reports from F1, WRC and more. Subscribe for must-read opinion, stats and images

COVER IMAGE: COATES/LAT INSETS: BOYD, ETHERINGTON/LAT

277 The number of races since two British drivers last locked out the front row of the grid for a GP. The

Hamilton/Button one-two in Melbourne was the first time since Damon Hill/David Coulthard in Adelaide ’95

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COVER STORY

34 Australian Grand Prix All the action from the opening grand prix of 2012 on the streets of Melbourne, including the full story of Jenson Button’s dominant win, Gary Anderson’s technical analysis and full results, facts and stats 52 Sebring 12 Hours The 60th running of the Florida

F1 2012 blasted off in Melbourne, p34

enduro kickstarted the new World Endurance Championship with Audi snaring a one-two 58 World of Sport NASCAR; V8 Supercars; IRC

FEATURES 60 GP2 season preview

Is it still a suitable F1 feeder? 62 Indycar season preview Barrichello interview; series guide

NEWS

REGULARS

5 From the editor 6 Snapshot 25 Mark Hughes column 80 Subscribe for a free gift 88 Final drive Letters and latest gear

90 On track/on screen The best action in the next week 93 From the archive Carlos Pace’s first F1 podium, ’73 94 Race of my life Volker Weidler, 1991 Le Mans 24H

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P IC S

10 More to come from McLaren Fuel-blunder held back superquick MP4-27s in opening race 12 Teams rush to copy Merc Aero trick set to be copied by rivals who tried to get it banned 14 Grosjean: back to front Frenchman silences doubters 17 This week in Formula 1 Team round-up after first race 18 Malaysian GP preview

Honda NSX could race, p31

23 David Coulthard column 26 Dallara shuns engine firms IndyCar builder to produce its own bodywork with ‘partners’ 28 DeltaWing satisfies Nissan Radical racer meets firm’s targets 31 Honda plans NSX GT racer Japanese firm targets Le Mans 32 WRC committed to enduros Series bosses push ahead with plans for longer rallies

SPORTS EXTRA

77 FRenault UK canned for 2012 Single-seater series postponed for a year after poor entries 78 Rally ace switches to racing Adam Gould moves to Clio Cup

82 National reports Donington Park HSCC; Oulton Park Masters 86 Series to watch in 2012 What to look out for this season

Goodwood Cobra race will be epic, p86

March 22 2012 autosport.com 3